Garden Spaghetti Sause

Tomatoes, garlic and oregano from our garden--the flavor was amazing!

The last of the green tomatoes from the garden have ripened on the counter and are getting processed, hopefully, tonight. I should have garden poundage totals soon! :)

Belovedest's Latest Hobby: Iaido

Here is my mom, admiring one of his swords.

Never a dull moment around here....

I turned my office at work into a beach retreat!

 The cylinder in the corner is actually a light fixture made from recycled materials.  Sadly, it doesn't photograph well. 

The sarongs (fabric) on the wall were purchased, but pretty much everything else is homemade or embellished.  I even made the window, as, sadly, my office doesn’t actually overlook the beach.

Organizing Christmas Ornaments

This probably not a good option for stuff you have to get into and out of often.  But I think it will work for ornaments because it means that we can easily spread out the box lids to see and select the ornaments that we want.

Here's BEFORE:

 I deliberately made some sections bigger than others, although I wasn't organized enough to actually measure anything!

 There are just big pieces of cardboard in between the box lids.  I didn't measure those either.

 Yes, these are ordinary paper box lids with name tag stickers.  (Name tag stickers are my favorite organizing tool.)

Hope this helps you think about what you might like to organize.

Potato Harvest

Doesn't this one look like a mouse?

The final counts on how many pounds we harvested should be coming soon.  I know we had more than 100 lbs of tomatoes....

Last Rose of Summer

Last week after we finished up in the garden for the year (well, mostly!), my darling husband picked this for me.

Sunday Thoughts: Newman's Canonization Today

Here is a prayer/meditation by St. John Henry Newman, appropriate for this, his canonization day!

I've always loved it and found it comforting.  There are many translations, but I like this one because of the ending.

God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have a mission. I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.  I have a part in His great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.  He has not created me for nothing. I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling.

Therefore I will trust Him.     Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; In perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it.  He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me— still He knows what He is about.

Lord, Let me be Thy blind instrument. I ask not to see—I ask not to know—I ask simply to be used. Amen.

Adventures with Isabel: Lee's Marble Museum

Mom and I hit some of the stops in the Nebraska Passport passport program, and this was one of them.

Lee's Marble Museum is a small, free museum attached to a antique shop.  Lee has more than a million marbles.  He's an affable older gentlemen, who graciously showed us around and answered our questions.

In the photo above, Mom is holding part of a glass cane, which is how marbles are made.  The glass is mostly clear, with layer of colored glass included.  When making a marble, the cane is heated, and a glob of glass is cut off the end of the cane and put into a hollow metal rod.  The glass glob spirals down the tube and comes out perfectly round and cool enough to retain its shape.

Prior to 1935, marbles had traces of uranium in them and would glow under black light.

I'd say if you are headed down I-80 and in need of a quick break, Lee's Marble Museum is worth a stop.  We enjoyed our visit and even did some shopping.  It was a fun little interlude.